ISU Staff Member Takes Blame on Bio

Published 8:00 pm, Monday, February 4, 2002

An Iowa State football staff member said he accepts the blame for inaccuracies in his academic credentials that appeared in the university's media guide.

The biographical information for Charlie Partridge, the program's director of football operations, said he earned a master's degree in higher education at Drake and a master's degree in leadership and policy studies from Iowa State.

Partridge said Tuesday he worked on a master's degree at both schools but does not have one.

"I'm incredibly sorry this has happened," Partridge said. "Iowa State has built this program and the football program has turned around based on integrity.

"The bio in the media guide did not accurately reflect my postgraduate work."

Partridge and athletic director Bruce Van De Velde said the resume Partridge submitted when he applied for a job on the football staff was accurate. Van De Velde said he checked the records on Partridge's hiring after being told that the media guide information was wrong.

"I'm comfortable that he didn't misrepresent his qualifications throughout the hiring process," said Van De Velde, who was not at Iowa State when Partridge joined the staff in 1998. "He did not falsify or mislead at all. This is not a hiring issue."

The Iowa State case was the latest in a series of revelations about inaccuracies in coaches' bios or resumes. In the most widely publicized incident, George O'Leary resigned as Notre Dame's football coach after admitting he lied about his academic credentials.

Partridge said his bio in the media guide was done from information he submitted. He was given a draft of the copy to review before the guide was printed.

"It was in that draft where I should have caught what happened, which puts the responsibility on my shoulders," Partridge said.

Partridge said he "never intentionally" wrote that he had received his master's degree.

"But I can't say how I worded the information that may have been misleading or led to a misunderstanding," he said. "But I have to catch that in the proofreading."

Van De Velde did not say what if any action would be taken against Partridge, saying it would be handled as a personnel matter.

"Charlie has done an awful good job here," Van De Velde said. "He has high rankings in his professional evaluation. He seems to be an honest person. I just think he made a bad decision."

Partridge said he still needed to complete the creative component of his master's, equivalent to a thesis, to receive his degree. He said the information in the next media guide would be correct.

"I never thought I could feel remorse like I do for the department, because everything in this department is built on integrity," Partridge said.